Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

Scott Parker (11 leads Terry Poovey (1 81, Dan Ingram (3 1 I, Ron nie Jones (1 61 and t he rest of the field around the mile oval at Springfield . AMA Grand National Championship/Camel Pro Series: Round 13 No stopping Parker at Springfield Mile By Jack Mangus Photos by Bert Shepard SP R ING FIE L D, IL , SEPT. 4 Grand Na tional Champion Scott Parker scored h is eighth National wi n of the year and kept his record perfect on mile ovals this season when h e came home the winner of Sunday's Springfield Mile. The win was Parker' s seventh straight in mi le races this year, th e 17th of his brilliant 6 career, a nd his 28th Grand National Ch ampionship win. The 27-year-old Harl ey-Davidson factory rid er is now second on ly to Bubba Sh obert in career mil e victories (Shobert has 25). In addi tio n , h is eight h Nat ional win of the year leaves him just one shy of the record nine score d by Sho bert in 1989 a nd moved him in to a tie wi th Bart Markel for fourth place on the a ll- time win list. With three of th e remaining four Camel Pro Series ro unds remaining to be run on mil e ova ls, Shobert 's reco rd a ppea rs to be in jeopardy. While the win moved Park er into challenging positions in the record book, it most im portantl y enabled him to pad h is po int standings lead . H is nea rest cha ll enger, tea m ma te Chris Carr, finish ed fo urt h, and Parker now has a 32 poi nt lead over Carr, 2 10 to 178. Seco n d pl ace i n th e 25- lap Na tio na l we n t to ve tera n T erry Poov ey wh il e thi rd p la ce was cla imed by Dan In gram . "Both Poovey a nd In gram rode H ondas in the Illin oi s Motorcycl e Deal ers Association-promoted event. Parker enj oyed hi s second stra igh t week end o f swee p i ng bo th th e Na tiona l and th e Cam el Ch all en ge, winning th e latter handil y. His $ 10,000 winner 's share from th e $ I7,500 five-lap " da sh for cas h" co u p led wi th hi s $5750 winner 's sha re of the $40,000 Nati onal purse and cont ingenc y prizes ga ve him his second straigh t $16,OOO-plus pa yday. T he da y ended o n a sad note for fans of T ammy Kirk. T he fast lad y racer from Dal ton , Georgia, qualified for th e Nati on al by fin ishing third in her heat race. But foll o win g the heat race, Ca nadia n Steve Aseltine, wh o fin ish ed fourt h , pro tested Kirk 's bi ke, bot h for di spl acem ent a nd for the possible use of illegal fue l. Kirk d ro pped o u t o f th e .Na tional fin al wi th a bl own engine , but her crew ch ief, father T ommy Kirk , load ed up her bike a nd refu sed to submit it for a di spl acement check. " I' m...it' s lega l," sa id Kirk, who had pl anned to retire from motorcycle racing a fter next Su nday 's Syracus e Mil e. Tommy Kirk to ld referee Duke Olliges, a ngr ily ,a t first and th en in calmer words, " I' m not tearing it down. I'm sick of all thi s type of thing. We're go ing car racing. " T ammy Kirk was seen cryi ng by her tru ck after most of her fo rm er fellow race rs had dep arted , perh aps fro m a combina tio n of sad ness over departing a spo rt she's been a part of for man y years and also fro m kn owin g th at many wi ll no w questio n if her man y o utstandi ng performances were acco m p lis he d w ith ill egal eq u ip ment. On e for mer Gra n d N ati on al Cha m p io n sai d, " Do n' t u se m y nam e, but I'll tell you th is: I' ve follow ed her o n m or e th an o ne occas io n that had me questi oning wha t sh e was running." According to Olliges, Kirk 's refusal to su bmit th e bike for in specti on was cause, for her di squalifi cati on, and a fin e and su sp en sion would no doubt be forthcoming. The di squal ificat ion from th e National cost her th e $765 sh e would hav e been paid for 17th place, but the expec ted fin e and' suspe nsio n are perh aps meaningless seeing as how she will now switch over to ca r racing. Time Trials Terry Poovey, aboa rd the Mari oneaux Racing/Shoei/H ap Jon esl Ts u ba ki/S isemore/ Mesq u ite Custom Cy clel ]. Sti nc hfield-sponso red Honda, was th e fastest of th e 39 rid ers wh o logged laps o n tim er G il Dosmega n's clocks. Poovey had waved off h is first qualifyin g lap, a lap that would have stood as fast time bu t ca me back a t th e end of tim e tr ials and post ed a 35.499 second tour of th e Illinoi s Sta te Fairgrounds ova l tha t top ped the seco nd fast time of 35.534 turned in by Parker. H eavy ra in a few days before the race provided a damp tra ck and Poovey's qualifying speed , 101.41I mph, was nowhere near the record of 104.303 mph set by Ricky Graham in 1984. " I go t sidew a ys o n m y first a tte mp t," said Poovey, " a nd thought I had a bad lap. But th ings worked o ut, didn 't they?" Ca rr was th ird fastest a t 35.615, hi s H arl ey teammat e Kevin Ath erton was fourth at 36.666, and Davey Durell e celebra ted hi s first ride on a 750cc bike this year by logging fifth fa st est tim e, 35. 669. Keith Da y grabbed th e sixth and last start ing slot in th e lu crative Camel Challenge by cu tti ng a 35.676 lap. Garth Brow , Tim Mert en s, Steve Mor eh ead a nd Kirk rounded o ut th e top 10 qualifiers. The last rider to log a qualifying lap was two-time Grand National Ch ampion Ri cky Graham, who was loo king forward to th e day as he was slated to rid e Hank Scott's Honda in th e a bsence of Doug Chandler, who was road racing in Kansas. But the Honda suffered a blown head gasket in practice and although Scott and his crew worked feverishly to repa ir it (the en g ine had to be removed from th e fram e ), h e scratched the bike from the program a lte r buttonin g up th e e n g i n e seco nds before tim e tri al s ended. Grah am h opped o n a back -up Honda a nd post ed a respectable 35.975, 16th fastest. " I cou ld hear th e valves hitting the

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